Deputy Premier the Hon. Irving Pearman said last night the Independence fact-gathering mission to London was proving successful.

"It went quite well today. We are getting information which is very helpful,'' he said from his London hotel. Mr. Pearman is chairing a Cabinet committee which is looking into Independence.

Committee members with him in London are Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul, Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira, Transport Minister the Hon.

Maxwell Burgess and Human Affairs Minister the Hon. Jerome Dill.

Mr. Pearman did not elaborate on the talks, saying a Press statement had been issued through Government Information Services.

A Government spokesman repeated Mr. Pearman's assertion the delegation had an "excellent day'' yesterday.

He said the delegation went to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office at about 10 a.m. and had discussions with several officials there, including former Bermuda deputy governor Mr. John Kelly, who now heads the dependent territories section.

At 11 a.m., they were joined by Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Mr Tony Baldry and lunched with him. Then they returned and continued discussions until 3.45 p.m., said the spokesman.

Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Mr. Douglas Hurd joined them just before noon and sat in for some of the discussions.

Topics they covered included "what the British Government would consider appropriate for a referendum, what the conditions of a referendum would be, what might happen if Bermuda decided to go for Constitutional change, and what would happen if they decided not to go for Constitutional change''.

"The whole subject got a pretty good airing out,'' the spokesman said.

After that they sat on a session in the House of Commons, he added.

Last night the Bermuda delegation met alone for a debriefing which was to begin at dinner.